Page 23 of Somber Prince

“In Nerifir, all sentient creatures born with magic are called fae as opposed to animals who wield no magic and, well…humans.” He cast an apologetic glance my way. “Look, the shadow fae are here.” He held his left hand in front of his chest, palm down. “Gargoyles, sirens, and others are here, in Above.” He placed his right hand, also palm down, just above his left. “And Sky Kingdom is here.” He moved his left hand from under the right one to over it. “Three planes of Nerifir,” he concluded triumphantly, obviously proud of his explanation.

“So, everyone in Nerifir has magic and can turn to shadows?”

“No, just the shadow fae.” He glanced at the sand clock on the wall once again before continuing, “Other fae’s magic is different. Sirens have water powers. Gorgonians turn people to stone just by looking at them. Sky fae can control light.”

It all sounded too fantastic to believe. Except that I’d personally witnessed some pretty fantastic things lately.

“And humans have no magic. It’s unfair, don’t you think?”

He shook his head. “You have something that’s even better than magic. Humans possess the most exquisite ability to feel joy.”

“Do you mean that fae can’t?”

“Not the shadow fae.”

“We will be able to savor your joy with you.” General Oskura had said when taking me to the harness fitting.

“Is this why they put this on me?” I touched a ribbon on my arm. No matter how hard I rubbed it with soap, it still didn’t come off. “The tendrils… Do you have them too? Or just the Joy Guardians?”

A shudder ran down my spine at the memory of the tight loops holding me on the table. Sigid glanced down at his arms, but nothing appeared from his smooth, velvety skin.

“It’s not allowed to release tendrils in the presence of a Joy Vessel without permission from His Highness,” he said. “But yes, we all have them.”

I rubbed my upper arms. An uneasy feeling unfurled in my chest like a dark shadow.

“Sigid… What’s Prince Rha going to do to me at dinner?”

Upon my mentioning the prince, Sigid’s eyes snapped back to the wall clock.

“Are you done with the bath, Dawn? Because we really should be going now.”

“Almost.” I rubbed some more odorless soap on my shoulders, thinking of a way to get some more information from him. But he jumped to his feet, already on his way to get a towel from a woman passing by with a stack of them.

The shadow people were fae.

How could this be real?

“Are you immortal?” I asked Sigid the moment he returned with a towel for me. “Fae usually are, aren’t they?”

He gave me an incredulous look. “Of course not. Immortality is a curse. Who’d want to remain stuck in the same world forever?”

“So, you can be killed then?”

“That’s a sure way to move on to another world.” He nodded. “We’re more resilient than humans, but a weapon of Nerifir iron is usually very effective at killing a fae, especially if it hits a vital organ or is left in the wound for a while for the iron to poison the blood stream—” he cut himself short, giving me a suspicious glance. “Why do you need to know that?”

I smiled, trying to put him at ease again.

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning an assassination. I’m just trying to learn as much as possible about your world. Remember, I didn’t ask to come here. The least anyone could do would be to explain things to me, but no one has even told me even how we got to Nerifir.”

“Oh.” He rubbed behind his ear. “It's not easy to travel to the human realm from the World of Under. The Joy Guardians had recently discovered an ancient ritual that opens a portal between our worlds. It allows our people to cross the realms as shadows, then bring humans here without a change in time.”

“This wasn’t the first time the portal has been opened, was it?” I prodded a little further. “You’ve come to our world before.”

“Right.” He nodded.

My heart leaped in my chest. I knew it. The shadow fae were the ones who had taken Ciana all those years ago.

“Are there more humans here, then? Other than those who came with me?”

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